After Trevor Noah left, there

was a roster of celebrity comics who anchored the show. And then there was a hiatus, I guess, over the summer.

Which we have all the time, by the way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, exactly.

And then the correspondents started rotating who anchored the show. And I wasn't sure, like, is this a temporary thing? Have they decided against having one host or one celebrity comic hosting? And it's turned out so far to be the real thing with the correspondence hosting, you know, anchoring. Are you at liberty to say why the decision was made to have alternating correspondence anchor as opposed to one person or one famous comic?

I can talk about it, yeah, but to be honest, I don't know the reasoning. Maybe it's just hard to find someone to do it. It's a tough job. I guess what I can say is I think the way it is right now, it makes sense because John wants to be on.

John Stewart, who's back on the show once a week.

The legendary John Stewart is on once a week. And the way he described it was we as a satirical news organization, we should be trying to cover the climate instead of just chasing the weather, right? That's how we get an elevated show is if we can describe the climate, the political climate of America versus just chasing these individual news stories. And so what the current arrangement does is that it allows Jon Stewart to come in and talk about the climate once a week and give us the big ideas in America. And it allows the rest of us, correspondents, to do a bit more weather chasing, which as much as we're trying to avoid that, unfortunately, it's necessary weather chasing sometimes because ultimately our job is to make fun of the news and the news happens every single day. Not that we have to avoid discussing the climate, but we can also it freezes up to kind of chase the weather a bit and nobody gets burnt out. So as long as the quality doesn't drop, I mean, you know, this might be the way to do it.

You've been in film. So you're now the co-star of the series Interior Chinatown. And it's a cliche that the Asian guy is the best friend. Yes. But in a film where the main character is Asian, and much of the story is set in Chinatown, you're the best friend of the other Asian guy.

Yes, yes. But that's the beauty of the show is that we're actually making fun of these stereotypes. Yeah. Sorry, of these tropes.

It's kind of a theme of the series that the main character feels just kind of invisible. Yes. And he wants to be the star of his own life. So I want to play a clip from Interior Chinatown. And you and Jami Yoyang, the main character in the series, you're both working at a restaurant in Chinatown and don't really like the job. You're just doing it.

Maybe I should set up also that we are working in a restaurant in Chinatown, but we are also characters in a TV show who don't realize that we're in a TV show. So we are on the surface working at this restaurant, but we are working at a restaurant in the context of being on a law and order type show. So that's the meta aspect of it.

It's very meta. Yes,

yes. So

in this scene from the first episode, you're both in the alleyway where the dumpster is. Yeah. And you're both talking. And the Jimmy O. Yang character is talking about how he's like a minor character in his own life and invisible in the world. And he wants to be the main character. He wants to be the star of something. He wants to solve a murder mystery like they do on TV. So this is the conversation between Yume and Jimmy O. Yang. He speaks first.

I'm not saying I want someone to die. So what are you saying? Well, I'm saying if someone's already dead, I would like to be the first one to find That's weird, man. Okay, you know how in cop shows there's usually a cold open? Cold open. The first scene before the main titles. Right. Okay, so for a couple of minutes, you follow this random character who you've never met, who's not one of the leads. And part of you is thinking, why am I even watching this guy? Why are you watching this guy? You're watching because either he's about to get killed, or... Or? You've seriously never seen a cop show? How is that even possible? Video games and weed. Okay. What was I saying? Somebody's about to find a dead body? Yes. That's the rule. The person in the first scene of a procedural is either a victim or a witness. Holy s**t. Somebody threw away an entire Peking duck with the sauce and everything. You're a d***, man. I'm the d***. You were the one who was hoping it was a dead person.

Okay. That was my guest, Ronnie Chang, with Jimmy O. Yang in a scene from Interior Chinatown. In the film Crazy Rich Asians, you have a real standout scene. You're kind of a minor character in it. That's very complimentary

of you, yeah.

But it's a great scene. Does it feel qualitatively different to be in a film with an Asian-themed story and largely Asian cast? Yeah,

that's a good question. Creativity of Asians was my first movie, so I had nothing to compare it with. But I will say on set, you could feel this really cool and chemistry. We all had this shorthand. We were all Asian actors in our 30s, and we were all in this movie for the first time, this underdog movie, which when we were making, there was no indication it would have been as successful as it was. I think that's fair to say, as in it was still yet to be seen. It was not a sure thing. Lots of risks were taken by the directors and producers, which we're all eternally grateful for that it paid off. But we were all in this thing in Malaysia and Singapore. And so we were just hanging out. You know, we would go for karaoke. We would go for Korean barbecue. We didn't need to explain why we were going for Korean barbecue. It wasn't ethnic eating. It was just food. And then when we get to Korean barbecue, we don't have to explain what was being served. We all got it. So stuff like that, you know, there was like a shorthand and camaraderie, which exists still today. So

correct me if I'm wrong, you're third generation Malaysian? Yeah,

Chinese Malaysian.

Chinese Malaysian. Yeah. So what I read is that your parents moved to the U.S. when you were three. You stayed with family in Malaysia or Singapore. And then you moved a year later when you were four.

So they came when I was one. Oh,

so then I

only came here when I was three and then I left when I was seven. Yeah. So basically they they came to America and they left me in Malaysia for like a year and a half or something. And then when I was around three years old, then they brought me over. So they were with my sister without me. So they were probably here for like two years, I guess. Did you recognize

your parents?

You know, I think they tell me that when I saw them at the airport, I walked away because I was so pissed. But I don't remember being, you know, holding it against them.

Right. First

of all, they were putting themselves through college. So, you know, imagine having to support two kids and themselves and college. So they were working and going to college at the same time. And then second of all, it was like, yeah, I was too young, you know? It was like a baby. Like, that's before the internet. Who knows what's happening in Manchester, New Hampshire? They just didn't want to risk it. So it was easier to just take my sister.

So what was it like when they decided to move back to Malaysia?

Oh, great question. So when they moved back, they didn't tell me we were moving back. They said we're just going for a vacation. So I was like, oh, okay. So we'll go and see Malaysia and we'll come back. And then we went back to Malaysia and we never went back to America and I was like what happened like why did you guys lie to me and so I had a chip on my shoulder for like years of being in Singapore and Malaysia and you know what maybe maybe they changed not I was gonna give them the benefit of the doubt I was gonna say maybe they went there and changed their mind but I'm pretty sure they went there knowing they were going to go back but no in hindsight I think they made the right decision for them because when they went back to Malaysia they had more social capital because they had US education and they were culturally more suited to Malaysia and Singapore so when they went back, I think they made the right choice for them. What

did they end up doing?

Oh, they became like corporate executives. My mom became like a financial controller. My dad became like a general manager of factories in China. And then he would, you know, he would commute between China and Singapore and Malaysia. But my point is that I don't know if they would have been happy in America because in America, I was very happy, but I was like a four-year kid and they were working at a gas station. So I don't begrudge them at all. I wish they had told the truth that we were moving back for good, but I think they made the right choice ultimately. So yeah, and I was lucky I got to, I appreciate being from Malaysia and seeing Singapore and seeing Australia and then coming to America and having a bit more perspective on things. You know, I truly think it feels like a superpower sometimes.